Encino · San Fernando Valley · Los Angeles
Dual diagnosis treatment treats a substance use disorder and a mental health condition at the same time, by one clinical team, rather than one after the other. Treating either alone is why people relapse.
“New Spirit Recovery helped me when I was detoxing hard for about a week. The staff were kind to me the whole time. When I thought about leaving early, they helped me slow down and choose recovery instead. By discharge I was grateful I stayed — they even set up appointments for my leg issues, and I’m doing better now.”
“New Spirit Recovery has changed my whole life drastically — they gave me a second chance to rewire my life and live a new one. The staff is caring and genuine, and the director and operations director guided me through the program and gave me every opportunity to be a better person. They set me up for success and I can’t thank them enough for saving my life.”
“New Spirit Recovery was beneficial to my recovery. Here I learned tools to help me manage my emotions safely — journaling and breathing have been amazing tools I picked up while here. All the staff were incredible and patient. I am grateful to have come here and actually use the tools suggested.”
“This program teaches you how to set realistic goals and become a better version of yourself, with all the tools to start building a new foundation. The therapist and case manager give each client an individualized, tailor-made treatment plan. Serene surroundings, a private chef, daily groups, and weekend outings. If you’re looking for a way out of addiction, give New Spirit Recovery a call.”
“The staff is amazing. I was completely unable to detox on my own and find the right path. The food and facilities were amazing — and I found my way again. My mom and I go to church together again now. Thank you all so much.”
Nurse practitioner evaluation on admission · 24-hour nursing coverage
Two conditions, one plan
Dual diagnosis treatment, also called co-occurring disorders treatment, addresses a substance use disorder and a mental health condition together in a single plan. The same clinicians handle both, so neither gets treated as somebody else’s problem.
A nurse practitioner evaluates you on admission, and the clinical assessment covers substance use history alongside psychiatric history: prior diagnoses, current medications, trauma history, suicidal ideation and self-harm. Most programmes screen thoroughly for one of those and briefly for the other.
Early sobriety imitates mental illness. Alcohol withdrawal produces anxiety that looks like an anxiety disorder. Stimulant crash produces a flatness that looks like major depression. Stimulant intoxication can look like mania. A team that diagnoses on day two gets it wrong.
So the first stretch after medical detox is spent observing rather than labelling, with symptoms tracked as your nervous system settles. What persists once withdrawal resolves is the thing worth treating.
Programming runs six hours a day, seven days a week, and the modalities are chosen for the presentation in front of us: CBT for thought patterns, DBT for emotional dysregulation, ACT, trauma-focused therapy with EMDR referral where clinically indicated, and somatic work for what talking cannot reach.
Individual therapy runs weekly at minimum with licensed clinicians, increased with acuity. The Rewired curriculum covers emotional regulation, boundaries and accountability, which is dual diagnosis material whether or not it is labelled that way.
Our Medical Director and Nurse Practitioner prescribe for the psychiatric condition and the substance use disorder, with physician consultations at a weekly minimum. That single point of prescribing is the practical core of integrated care: interactions get caught, and nobody is carrying messages between two clinics that never speak.
Where medication for the substance use disorder is indicated, it is handled through medication-assisted treatment under the same team.
Self-harm behaviours get specific interventions and a written safety plan, and 24-hour nursing means somebody is awake and aware of it. Our clinical psychologist consults on crisis management and treatment planning across the homes, and staff are trained in suicide prevention and de-escalation as a standing requirement rather than a one-off induction.
If you are thinking about harming yourself, you do not have to wait for a bed. Call or text 988 any time, or call 911 if you are in immediate danger.
Dual diagnosis is where discharge goes wrong most often, because a medication plan needs a prescriber on the other side. Continuity is arranged as part of discharge planning alongside the step-down care we coordinate, and family services continue so the people around you understand what they are supporting.
Why this one
Sean O’Neill is licensed in mental health and substance use, not one with a passing familiarity with the other. That is who signs off on your plan, and it shows in whether the two halves actually talk.
Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and dissociative identity disorder are treated here. Plenty of comfortable facilities quietly screen those out and refer them to a psychiatric hospital.
Psychiatric symptoms surface at 3am, not in a scheduled session. At this staffing ratio the person who notices is the person who reports it to the prescriber the next morning.
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What we treat alongside substance use
We treat depression, anxiety and panic disorders, bipolar disorder, PTSD, OCD, personality disorders including borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder, alongside the substance use disorder rather than after it.
| Condition | How it interacts with substance use | Treatment emphasis here |
|---|---|---|
| Major depressive disorder | Alcohol and sedatives deepen depression, and withdrawal itself imitates it | CBT, medication review, time before diagnosing |
| Anxiety and panic disorders | Alcohol and sedatives relieve anxiety for hours and worsen it for months | DBT, distress tolerance, non-sedative medication options |
| Bipolar disorder | Stimulant use can look like mania and can destabilise mood cycles | Mood-stabilising medication, psychoeducation, sleep structure |
| PTSD and trauma | Substance use often functions as symptom management for trauma | Trauma-focused therapy, somatic work, EMDR referral |
| Obsessive-compulsive disorder | Compulsive use and compulsive rituals reinforce each other | CBT and medication management |
| Borderline and other personality disorders | Emotional dysregulation drives impulsive use, and use worsens dysregulation | DBT, distress tolerance, boundaries work |
| Schizophrenia and psychosis | Substance use can trigger or intensify psychotic symptoms | Antipsychotic medication management, psychiatric oversight |
| Dissociative identity disorder | Dissociation and substance use can both function as escape | Trauma-focused therapy, psychologist consultation |
We treat adults 18 and over. We are not the right placement for clients with severe physical limitations requiring specialised medical care or with active feeding tube requirements. Eating disorders are accepted after a clinical assessment confirms this is the appropriate level of care. Veterans and LGBTQ+ clients are served through the veterans and LGBTQIA+ programmes.
What tends to show up
A dual diagnosis shows up as psychiatric symptoms that persist after substance use stops, or substance use that reliably follows psychiatric symptoms. Common signs include treatment that keeps failing, worsening mood between periods of use, and using specifically to sleep or to stop panic.
The overlap is genuinely hard to read from the inside. Withdrawal imitates anxiety and depression convincingly, intoxication can imitate mania, and both conditions distort your own account of the timeline.
That is the argument for assessment rather than a checklist. What a clinician does is watch the pattern across weeks, which is something no list on a web page can do.
This is information, not a diagnosis. If you are thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 any time, or call 911 if you are in immediate danger.
The honest answer
Integrated treatment, where one team treats both conditions at the same time. The alternatives are sequential treatment, one condition then the other, and parallel treatment, two providers at once who rarely speak. Integrated care is the recommended model.
“Get sober first, then we will look at the depression.” The problem is that untreated depression is often what the drinking was managing, so the waiting room becomes the relapse.
A psychiatrist on one side, an addiction counsellor on the other, no shared notes, and a patient carrying messages between them while unwell. Medication conflicts get found late, if at all.
One assessment covering both, one treatment plan, one prescriber, therapy chosen for the whole presentation. That is what happens here, and it is the model ASAM and SAMHSA point to for co-occurring disorders.
The best treatment also has to be the right intensity. Integrated care at the wrong level does not hold, which is why placement runs across every level of care we provide rather than one fixed programme.
Where you’ll actually be
Psychiatric care in a house rather than a ward. Our licensed residences are in Tarzana, Northridge and Encino, small enough that staff know your baseline and notice when you drift from it.
That is not a comfort argument, it is a clinical one. Recognising that somebody has gone quiet, stopped eating or stopped sleeping is how psychiatric deterioration gets caught early, and it requires people who see you daily.
Meet the clinical teamSmall enough to know your name
Co-Founder
Certified Addiction Counselor and author. Created the Rewired curriculum, eight pillars that run here and nowhere else.
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Clinical Director
Licensed since 2018, dual mental-health and substance-use background. Oversees clinical programming across all properties. Twenty-four years in recovery himself.
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Director of Nursing
A Licensed Vocational Nurse since 2020 with extensive behavioral health and substance use experience across detox and residential settings
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Clinical Psychologist
Clinical supervisor and a professor at California Lutheran University. Works across sites on crisis management and treatment planning.
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Program Director
Directs day-to-day operations and client care. Seven-plus years in the industry, five in management.
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Operations Director
Handles the logistics that make admission possible, including travel and transport from LAX or Burbank.
Read full bioThe question everyone asks first
Most PPO plans cover dual diagnosis treatment when it is medically necessary. Because both conditions are treated under one authorisation rather than two, integrated care is often simpler to get covered than assembling separate psychiatric and addiction benefits.
What you pay depends on your benefits, deductible, copay and coinsurance. We check it free and tell you the real number, whether or not you come here. New Spirit Recovery accepts PPO health plans and bills them as an out-of-network provider.
We do not accept Medicaid, Medi-Cal or Medicare. Cash pay is available. Dual diagnosis care runs through every level of care at our rehabilitation center in Los Angeles, so coverage is checked once for the whole pathway rather than at each step.
More on insurance verification and the admissions process.
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Looking for dual diagnosis treatment near you?
Our dual diagnosis treatment centers sit in the Valley, off the 101 at Balboa. We admit from across the metro and nationwide, with transport arranged from LAX or Burbank.
Common questions
Dual diagnosis treatment addresses a substance use disorder and a mental health condition at the same time, in one plan, by one clinical team. It is also called co-occurring disorders treatment. The alternative, treating one and then the other, is what most relapse stories have in common.
Integrated treatment, meaning one team treating both conditions simultaneously with a single assessment, plan and prescriber. Sequential care makes you wait, and parallel care makes you translate between two providers. Integrated care is the model ASAM and SAMHSA point to.
Psychiatric symptoms that persist after substance use stops, or substance use that reliably follows psychiatric symptoms. Common signs are repeated treatment that does not hold, using specifically to sleep or stop panic, and a diagnosis that predates the substance use. Only an assessment can confirm it.
Classes rather than brands: SSRIs and SNRIs for depression and anxiety, mood stabilisers for bipolar disorder, antipsychotics for psychotic symptoms, non-sedative options for anxiety, plus the medication classes used in medication-assisted treatment for the substance use disorder. Your physician selects and explains the specific medication.
Most major PPO plans cover it when medically necessary, and integrated care is often simpler to authorise than separate psychiatric and addiction benefits. We verify your coverage free before you travel. We do not accept Medicaid, Medi-Cal or Medicare; cash pay is available.
Often nobody can say, and integrated treatment does not require an answer. Each condition worsens the other regardless of the order, so both get treated from the start rather than waiting to establish a sequence that may not be recoverable.
Yes. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorders including borderline personality disorder, and dissociative identity disorder are treated here alongside the substance use, with antipsychotic and mood-stabilising medication management and psychologist consultation.
Bring it, and bring the prescriber’s details. Your current medications are reviewed at the nurse practitioner evaluation on admission, and the plan continues, adjusts or replaces them as a clinical decision rather than stopping them by default.
Self-harm behaviours get specific interventions and a written safety plan, with 24-hour nursing coverage and psychologist consultation on crisis management. If you are in immediate danger right now, call or text 988 or call 911 rather than waiting for an admission.
Continuity of prescribing is arranged as part of discharge planning from intake onward, alongside the step-down care we coordinate. A medication plan without a prescriber on the other side is a preventable relapse.
Ten minutes, a few questions, and a real answer about your coverage. Someone picks up at any hour, including this one.